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Take Off and Stay High

Figuring out the Top 25 was tough. Figuring out what games not to include was not. We decided we'd be dealing with fixed-winged flight games almost exclusively so that leaves out all of the helicopter themed games (sorry Desert Strike), hot-air balloon simulators (snore), and quirky/educational games like Pilotwings. There were just too many human cannonball minigames in there for us to feel comfortable with those Nintendo titles. But for the most part you're going to be getting the best of the best. The elite ... even if the atrocious Top Gun isn't included in our countdown. Today we've got 10-6.

You don't need the exclamation point to get excited about this flight simulation title. The hook with this Terminal Reality published game was the level of detail you got with each every cockpit and dashboard. Christopher Columbus might be a little upset at just how flat the world is in Fly! and the aircraft are amazingly resilient which makes the game seem like a very basic flight training program where absolutely nothing bad can happen. You're just there to learn. Hey you've got to crawl before you can walk and apparently you've got to fly before you can Fly!

Falcon 4.0 is the thinking man or woman's flight combat game delivering plenty of realistic avionics, lots of weapons and a splendid blend of believable graphics both inside and outside the cockpit. You even get to see the action taking place on the ground in real-time since you're the all-important "air support" in this military campaign. With lots of versatility you can use the auto-pilot and waypoints to kick back on those long flights before taking control of your aircraft and using all of your pilot's wits to bring her in manually using all the controls you'd find in a civilian flight sim. Falcon 4.0 is simply the best of both worlds.

It's the weapons that really did it for us when it came to Jane's F/A-18. Sure you get all the cluster bombs, laser guided bombs and dumb rockets. But we're talking about the really cool stuff like the electronic decoys on a wire, anti-ship missiles and heatseekers that can target the relatively faint signatures from campfires. There's not as much depth here as you'd expect from a game with Jane's on the cover, but the controls are functional and streamlined for you to quickly get to the most fun in the shortest time possible.

Who knew there was a big enough air war over Eastern Europe during World War II to warrant a standalone PC flight combat game? Ubisoft and Maddox Games did, that's for sure. Taking control of authentic Soviet and Nazi aircraft Forgotten Battles offered a strong mix of great graphics, turret-gunning and pure flight combat with a convincing WWII backdrop. This was an update to IL-2 Sturmovik, but it's one that bumped up the overall value of the package. Great cloud effects and more attention to detail to the ground, and everything on it, than you'll see in most games, helped make Forgotten Battles a winner.

6. Jane's USAF

Military authenticity is the name of the game in the cleverly titled-Jane's USAF. While the United States Air Force does more flying in space than around this planet, you'll have no problem sinking your teeth into the eight real-life aircraft presented here. A comprehensive training mission sequence and some historic battle scenerios -- including a re-examination of an Israeli air attack on Iraq 23 years ago -- only help add to the realism of this combat flight simulation. The quick mission editor is a splendid touch once you've dominated all the scenarios the standard game has to offer.